Invasion of Alzeroth
The invasion of Alzeroth began in 470 and eventually concluded in 485 following some dramatic changes of fortune between the participants. Background The Alzeroth Collective was a peaceful realm largely unremarked by its neighbours. In 470 the Dragon Queen of Maur, Tyarel Volshevrin, seeking to expand the kingdom and display her strength to the world, determined to sack Alzeroth and subject it to her rule. Conflict Alzeroth had only a token army of one thousand, whereas Maur had five times that number with reinforcements being trained. With no chance of success on the field, Grand Minister Kialdo Visontas gave orders to muster additional troops and call the militia while otherwise not opposing the conquest. Meanwhile, he led Alzeroth's standing army behind enemy lines, raiding into Maur itself. This strategy worked better than even Kialdo could have hoped, as his small band of followers managed to penetrate to the very capital of the Ash-Kingdom and lay siege to it while the Queen campaigned in Alzeroth. Thanks to some disastrous failures of communication, the Maurite army was not deployed to resist the Alzerites, and although the Queen abandoned her attack on the Collective after 475 she did not return quickly enough to stop Kialdo seizing the capital. In light of the queen's incompetence, the troops remaining in Maur defected to Alzeroth, leaving her to flee into exile with only those still under her command remaining. Having unexpectedly conquered the Ash-Kingdom, Kialdo knew there could nevertheless be no peace while the queen lived, and indeed this was the case. Having somehow gathered some foreign supporters, Tyarel returned in 480 at the head of a larger army. Kialdo's own attempts to seek international aid went apparently unanswered, with the Chivalric Republic not wishing to stand against Maur and other nearby powers having sided with the Dragon Queen. With troops from the Sovereign Principality of Niskovia and the Kingdom of the Silver Moon now following her banner, Tyarel invaded Alzeroth once again, leaving her Sycian allies under High Priestess Marvella to reclaim Maur. Kialdo met the Dragon-Queen on the field in Alzeroth, leaving Maur undefended, and was defeated, but managed to keep some of his army intact for a retreat to Oreth. The victory was marred by a disagreement between the queen and her Niskovian allies, after the queen gave an order that prisoners of war were to be enslaved or executed, which nearly led to the disgusted Niskovians abandoning her before Tyarel agreed to moderate the order. Meanwhile the Six Ministers of Alzeroth, led by Tredia Iberial, concerned about the prospect of invasion and with Kialdo's having been defeated in the field for the first time, managed to push through a warrant for his arrest. When news reached him, the Grand Minister reportedly took his own life before the warrant could be executed. Iberial, now Grand Minister himself, sought reconciliation with the invaders, promising them tribute and the surrender of Maur in exchange for the withdrawal of troops. With fractures in the coalition still evident, the Dragon Queen reluctantly agreed. Aftermath The state of affairs largely returned to the status quo ante bellum, with both sides sobered by the conflict. A few years after the conclusion of the war, Kialdo reappeared in Alzeroth alive and well, and was immediately joined by his former troops of the Grand Army as well as a vast mob of commonfolk who were overjoyed to see their hero's return. The Six Ministers were overthrown and all were thrown out into the street to face the justice of the people, save Tredia Iberial who was sent into exile. It transpired that, rather than taking his own life, he had in fact been taken prisoner and was en route to Oreth when he was liberated by men of the Hurosha Empire and conveyed abroad to safety until such a time as his return to Alzeroth was possible. In gratitude, Kialdo swore vassalage to the Empire.http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18660579&postcount=923 Maur, having been foiled in its attempt to expand into Alzeroth, instead attempted to conquer the region immediately to its south, but was opposed by its former allies in the Kingdom of the Silver Moon. Its army was defeated and the queen captured; in the aftermath of the defeat, the Ash-Kingdom became a vassal of Niskovia and was integrated into the Commonwealth of Lorvyn. References Category:Wars Category:Wars on Telluris